Food storage containers are known that have a bowl or a base that defines a food storage space therein. Many of these types of containers are also known to have a separate lid that can be secured over a top opening of the base to seal contents within the space of the container. In many circumstances, the lid secures to an upper or top edge of the base and can, in conjunction with the top edge of the base, create an air tight seal for the storage space.
One particular difficulty with such food storage containers is in storing both the lids and the bases of the containers when not being used. Another difficulty is in storing the containers in such a way that the lids do not become lost, misplaced, or separated form the bases, and so that an appropriate lid can be located when a particular container base is selected for use.
One solution to the storage problem is to stack a plurality of the bases so that they nest within one another. A bottom of one base is placed within the food storage space of a next adjacent base so that it nests therein. The exposed bottom of the lower most container base can then be nested in another food storage base of a next adjacent container base, and so on. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,412,325 and 5,692,617 disclose examples of this type of container.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,951,832 and 5,184,745 are exemplary of a different type of container nesting. In these examples, container bases of different sizes can nest completely within one another with the smallest base being received in the next largest base and so on. In each of these patents, it also shown that the appropriate lid for each container base of different size is positioned on a bottom of the base and nested together with its base within the next larger sized base.